Instrumental hip-hop/trip-hop from my favorite upcoming electronica label, Merck Records. Malcom Kipe is also known as Nautilis (on Planet Mu), but has since moved on from his IDM leanings.

This is superb, well-crafted, sample-heavy trip-hop with electronic twinges. Most tracks are short and seem like interludes. This sits in the territory between artists like Coldcut, Prefuse 73, DJ Shadow, Peanut Butter Wolf, Madlib, Sixtoo, and DJ Cam, but Malcom Kipe adds his own signature touches.

Recommended downtempo, meditative yet soulful grooves.
Also check out the 12’’, which features Redfello MCing over some of the tracks.

Favorite Tracks: 1, 8, 10, 13, 14

- Captain Dee, June 2005

*1. Bluesy, spoken intro. Then retro-styled chime melody with touches of lush horn. Very 70’s TV-ish. Then Hip-hop beat, piano, some scratching. (3:54)
2. Hip-hop with a dusty Western feel? MCing and warped background vocals. (2:14)
3. Spacey intro yields to Lounge-y groove, scratching. (3:33)
4. Plodding hip-hop loop with electronic fuzz. (2:18)
*5. Dirty, squeaky hip-hop groove with trippy piano riff. Becomes calm and
chime-y for a while. (3:41)
6. Sax-filled, soulful groove. Hard-hitting beat, vocal riff about politicians. (2:04)
7. Rattling sounds, murky and exotic vibe. Samples about America and money. Fades out with loud wildlife field recording. (4:06)
**8. Samples about revolution, lovely sitar melody, head-nodding beat, definite Indian influences (including some vocals), varied ambience. Wow, great stuff! (4:44)
9. Rumbling bass, snares, wispy ambience, slow beat. Harsh aesthetic. (2:24)
**10. Dark, in-your-face beat (almost gangsta style), muddled maelstrom of sound, with tragic strings hidden in the background. Rough, but also beautiful. (2:21)
*11. Follows suit from the last track. Deep, plodding beat, heavy bass, repeated chord. Graceful violin melody with touches of piano. (2:44)
12. Deep bouncey drum beat, muddled spoken words, then jazzy piano kicks in. Later, flute and stand-up bass. Blends into next track… (2:37)
**13. Extremely wistful, almost tragic piano melody and touches of strings with slow hip-hop beat. Beautiful interlude! (1:15)
**14. Contemplative piano, spacey horns. Mid-tempo drum beat. Great samples about the importance of community. (3:14)
15. Mishmash, changing trip-hop collage. Uptempo beat, dingy aura. (3:12)
16. Mechanical whirs, creaks. Fast hip-hop beat, quiet haunting ambience. (1:29)
17. Interlude with electronic fuzz, pulses, and sampled speaking. (0:43)
18. Slow, basic lounge-y instrumental hip-hop. (2:20)
19. Water sounds, tick-tock hip-hop beat, murky ambience. Ends with speech about music, crackling vinyl sounds, soundtrack-ish ambience. (4:20)